1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tube carrier apparatus for carrying a flexible tube along a passage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In various bags, for instance such as a blood (collecting) bag for collecting blood or a blood component bag for collecting plasma, blood platelet, red blood cells, etc. which have been separated from blood by centrifugal separation, there is provided at least one flexible tube which is connected at one end thereof to the bag in order to introduce or discharge blood or a blood component into or out of the bag.
When such bags as described above or multiple bags are manufactured or fluid is automatically transferred through such a tube as described above, the tube connected to the bag is transported to a predetermined position, and the transported tube is sealed, cut off or connected to another tube or another member at the predetermined position.
As an automatic tube carrier apparatus, an apparatus which carries a tube by so-called pick and press method has been so far well known. The apparatus is provided with a carrier head movable in two or three different dimensional directions. A chuck which chucks an end of the tube is mounted on the carrier head. The carrier head is movable to a predetermined destination to carry the chucked tube. In the prior art tube carrier apparatus as described above, however, there is such problems in that the mechanism for moving the carrier head is complicated and thereby the apparatus becomes large in size.
In particular, in order to keep the tube shape unchanged between before and after the tube is carried by the prior art apparatus, the tube must be chucked at a plurality of different positions. Therefore, when the total length of the tube to be carried is large, the number of chucks is inevitably increased, with the result that the carrier head becomes massive in size and thereby the carrier apparatus becomes large in size.
In addition, there is a case that a tube must be selectively carried to two or more predetermined destinations. In a case where such a need is arisen in the prior art tube carrier apparatus, since all the tube carrier heads must be so constructed as to be movable within a range in which a plurality of predetermined destinations are included, the mechanism becomes further complicated and the size thereof becomes also large. In addition, the moving sequence of the carrier heads becomes complicated. Furthermore, in the prior art apparatus, there is another problem that it takes a relatively long time to carry the tube to the predetermined destination.